Iceland Day 10: Reykjavik Does Murals

OUR LAST MORNING
I can't believe this is our last morning waking up in Iceland. It's a bit bittersweet. Part of me wishes we could stay and explore even more. I can see how people spend 4 weeks here. There were so many places we didn't get to, didn't spend enough time or activities we just couldn't do because it was winter. We talked about it and could see ourselves returning in the summer. And doing all the "other" stuff we didn't. Most likely it will be several years when the kids are older and can do the adventurous stuff. We really want to do a Jeep Tour, the glacier boats, explore the Westfjords and some good hiking.

BERGSSON MATHUS BREAKFAST
Although we enjoyed the food at Kex, we wanted to try out something different for breakfast. We took a look at our handy blog under her article "5 Breakfast Places Open before 8am" and picked Bergsson Mathus. Although it was only 9 when we arrived, it was already hoppin. We weren't totally sure what we were ordering but we got a few different breakfast orders to share and grabbed a table. By far this was our best breakfast of the trip. Granted we cooked most of them or we were limited to sweet pastries, but still. The breakfasts came with a combination of yogurt parfait so, hummus, salad, fresh bread, meats, cheeses, soft boiled eggs. My favorite was putting a piece of slightly warm cheese and prosciutto the on the bread just out of the oven. It melted. Granted this trip is not helping with weight loss eating, but it was yummy. I wouldn't say Iceland was a foodie destination but the breads and soups...Everyone got as full as possible and then we headed out.

MURALS OF REYKJAVIK
It was a Sunday morning and there weren't a lot of options of things to do before we headed to the airport at lunch time. What we had noticed were the huge numbers of murals and graffiti adorning the buildings of Reykjavik. I remembered a link I had pinned to exploring the art murals on your own and pulled that up. Along with a Google Map someone had made (found it on the go) we spent the rest of our morning driving around and searching for these murals. There were a lot of some of them were done by renowned local artists and were very impressive. It was a bit like a scavenger hunt trying to find them and to navigate through all the one way streets. Josh and I were intrigued to see how when construction was going on, nothing was done to preserve murals on adjacent buildings. In Charlotte it would be a huge ordeal and our stuff doesn't really compare to these art installations. We also noticed a bunch of the public art pieces scattered around. They were impressive. You could spend a whole day just finding all of those.

(1)(2)(3) When the owner of the old Loftkastalinn building (a former theater that was converted into a film studio) saw van Helten’s grandfather mural nearby, he commissioned him to create three more in exchange for food and lodging. Van Helten based these murals on photographs from the Reykjavík Museum of Photography Archive. The photos, by Andrés Kolbeinsson, depict scenes from a version of the Jean-Paul Sartre play No Exit that was performed in Reykjavik in 1961. The No Exit characters painted here are Inez, Estelle, and Garcin, played by Erlingur Gíslason, Kristbjörg Kjeld, and Helga Löve—whose daughter coincidentally spotted van Helten while he was painting her mother’s image. Van Helten also has pieces elsewhere in Iceland—in Kópavogur, the Westman Islands, and Akureyri—and even Greenland. (4) On the west side of the city, this house’s wall was covered in tags when Australian artist Guido van Helten knocked on the door and asked the owner if he could paint over it. The homeowner found an old photo of her grandfather—who had built the house—and asked him to replicate the picture. (5)Sara Riel "Hands" (6) Created in collaboration with Davíð Örn Halldórsson, this mural overlooks a kindergarten on Seljavegur and is part of the "Natural Kingdoms" series—this one represents the kingdom of plants.(7) Birds of many different forms are a prominent theme in Riel's work, as in this piece on the side of a house on Njalsgata. The artist is also known for her work on album covers for Icelandic artists, including Ólöf Arnalds and her band múm.(9) This piece with a cartoon monkey in the center is a transatlantic collaboration between the UK’s The London Police and American artist Above.(10) Riel’s highly detailed works often focus on nature. The Mushroom, a 2012 piece on Reykjavik's Hverfisgata street, is part of a series of murals that all deal with the theme “Natural Kingdoms”—the kingdom of fungi, in this case. (11) Riel, one of Iceland’s most prolific street artists, perfected her craft while studying in Berlin. She describes this piece, Fönix(Phoenix), as “a symbol of the end and beginning. Both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.”

PLAYGROUNDS
Somehow in these posts I forgot about one of the more fun things we did. The playground. As we have driven throughout the country we have noticed the creativity in all of the childrens' playgrounds. We've never seen anyone playing on them though. A few days ago it was too much. We spotted a playground back behind a school. I'm sure school was in session but it was too cool not to test. It had it's own zip line and lots of contraptions that appeared to be run off of body gravity. The kids (and Josh) around like kids in a candy store trying each one out before moving on. I wish we had more of this kind of simple, creative, physical outdoor play at home.

BACK TO KEF AIRPORT
Our flight was at 3:30. Around 11:30 or 12 we headed back to make the 45 minute journey to the airport. Josh dropped the three of us, and most of the bags, off at the entrance while he went and returned the car. Luckily, they thought everything looked good. We hadn't damaged the car but it was a mess inside. Food crumbs and mud everywhere. They were probably just happy to have it back with no new dents. Josh joined us at the airport within minutes. We read the signs (something we don't do often) and visited the Tax Refund counter. Throughout the city stores gave us paperwork to get our taxes back anytime we spent more than 6,000isk (about $35) It was a bit shady how some places offered it up and others we had to ask. We took the papers we had and claimed our 14% back. It was worth the hassle. Checking in still had Josh freaked. The whole luggage game and making sure everything weighed the right amount. They weighed EVERY bag and tagged it accordingly. Then since we hadn't purchased tickets they didn't have four seats together. That was fine but one of the sets of two left was an exit row which kids can't sit in. They did a switcheroo with the guy checking in next to us. The idea of separating the kids on the flight was actually a relief. It never occurred to us that the hardest part was still not over. It was a cattle herd when we went to board 45 minutes before departure. They stopped the line right before us so we had to go on Bus 2 to head out to the plane. Even though we were first on the bus we were last off. Figures. Two of us loaded from the front, the other two from the back. There luckily must have been another bus behind us. Because very quickly the crew discovered that the flight was scheduled and ticketed for a larger aircraft. There were 15-20 double books . I guess more like 30-40 but 15-20 people who they made get off the plane. Even though all their bags were on. It took us an hour to get all their bags out from under the plane, get a new manifesto and take off. The only good part of this? We contemplated our return flight from Boston to Charlotte. We were supposed to land at 5 and the last flight home was at 7:10. We could make it but it was going to be close with baggage, customs and security. We opted to stay overnight and get an early flight to be safe. Turns out that was a good call. Since we are on unconnected airlines we would have been screwed. Right now we are scheduled to arrive an hour before our flight. No way we would make it. So we are now flying home. I got the "quiet" child with me. Josh got the one who has gone to the bathroom four times so far and we aren't halfway through. Oh to be home!